20.500.12592/n2zxpv
Women's Roles in the West African Food System
21 October 2016
Summary
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank the organisers, presenters and participants of the 2015 Sahel and West Africa Club Forum for their insights and contributions, particularly related to the session on “Women’s Empowerment, Gender Equality and Resilience”, chaired by Carla Montesi, Director of the European Commission’s Directorate of West and Central Africa. [...] The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that form the core of the Agenda identify gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as the focus of SDG 5 and as a crucial contribution to all of its goals and targets.2 On the African continent, the debate focuses on the need to recognise, better understand and promote women’s roles in development and food and nutrition secu [...] Regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) are involved in strengthening the West African gender machineries3, and in promoting the participation of women’s organisations in policy dialogue processes, for example for the a [...] Capitalise on the availability of disaggregated gender data and analysis at the international level and prioritise three regional objectives to develop West African food policies: 1) Increase the representation of women in all steps of data collection, analysis and dissemination; 2) Invest more in the dissemination of statistical information and analysis to improve availability, accessibility and [...] Gender equality Equal participation of women and men in decision making, equal ability to exercise their human rights, (United Nations) equal access to and control of resources and the benefits of development, and equal opportunities in employment and in all other aspects of their liveli- hoods.
